Codex of the Forgotten

chapter 6:

chapter 6:

"His fragments begin to form their own awareness. If it is not immediately stabilized, he can collapse from the inside."

Dante appeared. "We must lock the fragment temporarily. Energy isolation."

Lucille shook her head. "Late. The fragment is fused. Isolation will only accelerate damage."

The three of them looked at each other. There is no really safe option. 

"I'll talk to him," Lucille finally said. "Before the fragment spoke more."

---

In the underground training room, Ethan stood in the middle of the simulation field, his eyes focused on the holographic target. He attacked endlessly, diverting his mind from the whispers. But .... 

The sound is still there. 

"Why are you fighting?"

"Because I'm still a human!" Ethan shouted. 

Suddenly, the simulation exploded from the inside. Not in accordance with the program. Dante and Lucille who watched from the outside immediately sounded the alarm. 

Ethan fell on his knees in the middle of a damaged terrain. The red light from its fragments light brighter - brighter than before. But his face remained loud. 

"I don't know what happened to me," he said as Lucille came over. "But I won't let this control me."

Lucille looked at him. "Then, from now on you will undergo a stabilization program. Emotional control exercises. Resonance meditation. And we will hunt for other fragments, one by one."

Ethan nodded. "And Obscura?"

Lucille looked straight into her eyes. "They will look for you. But you are not prey. You are a fire that can burn them, if you learn to master it."

---

Elsewhere, far beyond the city limits, Ardyn stood in the middle of an ancient symbol circle, surrounded by masked obscura members. In front of him, the holographic screen displays Ethan. 

"Cracks have started," he said calmly. "The seventh core fragment will not be sealed anymore."

A member asked, "Will he join soon?"

Ardyn smiled coldly. "No. He will come, when he starts to be afraid of himself."

"It will not be long," continued Ardyn, optimistic. 

----

The morning fog enveloped the runway of the launch of the Helix-02, a stealth aerial vehicle owned by Division X. Ethan stood underneath, wearing a tactical jacket and resonance gloves. On his side, Lucille adjusts the digital lens on his temple, his face is cooler than usual. 

"Our mission is simple," he said. "Find the second fragment. Identified buried in the ruins of ex-monastery aetherion, 200 miles in the north. The area was dead zone since the Bio-Codex pollution incident 12 years ago."

Ethan nodded, keeping one question that had not been answered since yesterday: Why are only the two of them sent? 

---

The trip takes three hours. In the cabin, Ethan watched Lucille who was sitting still, staring out with a long gaze. His hands held something - a small metal necklace. 

"You often go to Aetherion?" he asked quietly. 

Lucille did not immediately answer. He held the necklace tighter before finally answering, "In the past ... my house was there. Before everything was lost."

Ethan looked at him longer. This is what is mentioned in the internal report: Lucille Ardent, a former nun of Aetherion, the only survivor of the 22-X massacre. But no one ever knew the full story. 

"You lost someone?" he asked carefully. 

Lucille sighed. "All of my orders were slaughtered by codex contaminated creatures. We worship order. But apparently, regularity cannot save anyone."

The atmosphere became quiet. Ethan did not know what to say, until finally the Helix-02 began to decline and the navigation computer said, "The radius target is detected. The resonance field is increasing."

---

They descended in the middle of the ruins of large stone temples covered with wild plants. The mossy pillars towering like a giant bone. The remnants of ancient wall paintings depict wing-winged figures and radiant wheels. Old Codex - confidence before science stealing it. 

Ethan touched the ground and felt his fragments throbbing. "Below," he said. "Right under the altar."

Lucille moves first. He rolled the ring on his finger and activated a secret panel on the stone altar. The soil shakes lightly and opens a decreased hallway. 

"I haven't been to this place since that night," he said quietly. 

"If you're not ready—"

Lucille cuts Ethan's words, "I must be prepared. I must know, what killed them at that time was indeed a creature, or something bigger."

---

The dark hallway leads to an obsidian -walled basement. The Codex symbol is engraved around the wall in the spiral pattern, and in the middle of the room stands a crystal capsule, cracked, and glowing faintly. 

"The fragments are in that," Ethan said. 

Suddenly, hissing sound was heard from behind the back hall. Ethan turned quickly, his hand touched the plasma knife handle. But Lucille was silent frozen. 

"Not now," he whispered. "Not now .…"

From behind the shadow, a humanoid creature appeared-height, thin, without face, his body was coated with the remnants of the monk's robes. But what makes Ethan shiver is that the creature repeats the words:

"Lucille ... Lucille. ..."

The creature is not just speaking. He remembers. 

Ethan was about to advance, but Lucille raised his hand to stop him. 

"I know you ..." he said in a trembling voice. 

He stepped closer to the creature, slowly. His face was tense, his eyes began to runny. 

"Brother Kael ... You used to be this altar guard. You protected us to the end ..."

The creature approached, but now looks trembling. The light from his chest is blue - a cracked resonance. 

"I don't ... can ... fight it ..." said the creature softly, and in an instant his body exploded into a black fog that stepped into the ceiling, it was broken in the sound. 

"Hoh, no ..." Lucille knelt down, his breathing was heavy. 

Ethan approached him, put his hand on his shoulder. "You're not mistaken. You survive."

Lucille shook her head slowly. There is tightness to squeeze his chest. "Sometimes, surviving feels like betrayal."

---

After recovering, they opened the capsule. Inside, the second fragment - a small prism form - snapped in the emerald green color. When Ethan approached, his fragments were burning. 

However, instead of feeling cool, this time it felt hot. The second fragment refused to integrate. 

Lucille looked at the scanner screen. "There is protection. This fragment has guards."